The Unreasonable Complaint Conduct Policy will be presented to the council meeting next week, after being first outlined at an Audit and Risk Committee meeting last year.
The new policy will outline definitions of unreasonable customer behaviour and complainant conduct, and will assist and empower staff in these instances.
This could include aggressive behaviour, abuse, or threats, and also less overt but still disruptive behaviours, like incessant phone calls or a refusal to accept reasonable explanations and timeframes.
Council staff will be able to manage unreasonable customers though different ways, including limiting their point of contact, restricting subject matters, and application of other "informal behavioural management strategies".
Gore District Council chief executive Debbie Lascelles said, in a statement, the new policy was a way to protect council staff from bad actors and ensure a healthy and productive work environment.
"Council staff have the same rights as other members of the community to expect a safe working environment free from threats of abusive actions, harassment, or other forms of intimidation.
"These incidents have a disproportionate and unreasonable impact on our staff, services, time, or resources."
Mrs Lascelles said this policy would tackle the small minority of unreasonable customers in the Gore District, and would not affect the majority of interactions between Council and the public.
"The council’s relationship to any customer will always continue for the provision of infrastructure and services as provided to all ratepayers. The council will not ignore any new interactions, service requests or complaints.
"This just means the way it will respond to such a customer will be different, and our staff are looked after while we’re doing that."
